Vivo Piano Trio

This international trio held their audience enthralled, first as Estonian pianist Maksim Štšura gave an extemporary introduction that for a more general audience would have been rather long. Scottish violinist Michael Foyle and French-American cellist Raphael Lang joined him to play Tchaikovsky’s monumental Piano Trio in A minor Op 50. Written to commemorate Tchaikovsky’s mentor, Nikolay Rubinstein, it is full of yearning and invention. The variations of the extended second movement become increasingly more intricate. These young masters reserved plenty of energy for an ecstatic climax before the piano’s funereal pulse concluded in silence – an hour of musical magic.

Theatre Royal, Brighton, 15 May 2017
Rating:
Andrew Connal